Everybody knows about the shot that was heard around the world as the birthing pains of this once great nation. Today, sadly, we may have heard it's death knell.

It did not come with violence or shots fired. It came with the virtual elimination of personal property rights.

Our founding fathers knew how important the ownership of property was and sought to protect the right to be secure in the ownership of property to the extent that they enshrined the guarantee that property would not be taken for public use without due process and just compensation.

For over 200 years it was understood that "public use" meant that the ownership would transfer from the private owner to the local, state, or federal government for things such as military bases, roads, schools, prisons, etc. Now, the meaning of "public use" has been altered by 5 people who were never elected to office and in all reality, are completely unaccountable to anyone, to mean privately owned condos, shopping centers, and business parks under the thin guise that those enterprises would contribute more tax money to the coffers, thus increasing the "public good"

Justice Stevens, writing for the majority said that judges should give city councils and state legislatures "broad latitude in determining what public needs justify the use of the takings power," he added. To make sure that he wasn't misunderstood he added, "The city has carefully formulated a development plan that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including, but not limited to, new jobs and increased tax revenue," and just destroyed any pretence that you have any recourse whatsoever if the government or county decides that they want your property for any reason at all.

Sandra Day O'Connor writing a scathing dissent correctly said that now rich and politically land developers and businesses could basically take your land away from you with the help from the local government. Yes, you could fight it in court, but it is now fruitless as you are guaranteed to lose in a fixed fight.

For years the people have for the most party sat quietly as the government stole more and more freedoms from us. Prior to 1914 and fool could take any drug he or she wanted and kill themselves, thus increasing the quality of the gene pool for the rest of us. Before 1918, the government had no claim to your wages and could not tax them. Prior to 1934, Sears sold machine guns from their catalog and nobody thought anything about it. Prior to the 1950's preachers could freely endorse or denigrate any political candidate they wanted, just as had been done since the very first town government was formed in this country almost 350 years prior. Since 1986 it has been illegal to manufacture and sell a machine gun to a civilian despite the fact that in the past several decades the number of people int he US murdered by a person with a machine gun has been exactly one, and the person doing the shooting was a police officer using a gun issued to the police department.

But hope is not lost however, ownership of real property does a funny thing to people. It is a spot that a person can say, "This land is MINE!" with a dedication and a fierceness that is somewhat scary. Religion and politics and abortion and the WOT all take a back seat when two neighbors are faced with having their property stolen by the government.

Maybe that bell sounding isn't the death knell but the alarm.

Maybe this will awake the sheeple to realize that the socialist have gone too far.

The rich elite of Martha's Vineyard, Walter Cronkite and Ted Kennedy, among other hypocritical environmental wing nuts fight against windmills that destroy their ocean views. Just imagine how they'd howl if their ritzy property was seized.

Just to make my voice known, I am bloody furious about this judicial decision. It is vile beyond description, and the impact of this decision dwarfs issues of the day like abortion and gay marriage, which are superficial in many ways. Land of the free my ass. Without private property rights, we have nothing.

The Republic is dead.

104
posted on 06/23/2005 9:01:11 PM PDT
by tortoise
(All these moments lost in time, like tears in the rain.)

It's only a matter of time before it is used as a dirty political revenge modus operandi. Hillary must licking her chops tonight.

Nonsense. This vote was 5-4. But 4 of 5 of the majority are liberals (including 2 Clinton appointees), and 4 of 4 of dissenters are Conservatives.

The message is clear: Conservative justices support your property rights, and Liberal justices want to strip them from you. That is the banner we should march beneath next year, in 2008, and in every governor and local race in between.

We the people can stop this decision across America, and make sure a property-rights litmus test be applied for every SCOTUS nominee from now on.

this is hardly an issue of failure to pay taxes, or laws governing what you can build on your property. I certainly don't want my neighbor to be able to claim zoning laws are unconstitutional and turn his house into an adult bookstore. let's stay focused on the issue here - eminent domain for private use.

We, the undersigned, consider the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London, 04-108, rendered June 23, 2005, not only unacceptable, but to be in criminal violation of the Justice's oaths to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Be advised that We the People regard elected officials to be our public servants. Failure to take action against the Justices specified shall be considered support for the decision rendered in the aforementioned case, and will result in our resolve to ensure your defeat in the next election.

Being from myriad political and ideological spectra, we are united in our belief that our right to own property is inalienable.

We need an amendment to the Constitution that says: THE GOVERNMENT SHALL NOT COVET THE PEOPLES PROPERTY.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Now they'll just take the whole house. Probable cause = increased tax base. And any private citizen that supports such action by the government is equally covetous, expecting to benefit from such seizures. For the "benefit of the community"...

Proverbs 28:21 To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.

"Through no fault of my own I am being put upon. I've had all I can stand from you in the front, and I do not plan to roll over. So when you send your collector, have That Woman send your WACO KILLERS with them. They will need them. Living is not very much fun with you standing on my neck. If you do it right, dying will be one hell of a party."

Letter from Elmer Wade to the feds in the book "Send in the Waco Killers" by Vin Suprynowicz

Sounds good to me. Hopefully, he and his cabinet, advisers, aides, etc. will be able to figure a way out of this. This decision is unbelievable. There will be many, many heart wrenching stories come out of this. I hope SCOTUS aren't so isolated that they won't see the anger of the people, the demonstrations, and the evictions.

I suggested that we unite with DU at the homes of the plaintiff when the bulldozers come to tear down their houses. Hundreds of us should show up to demonstrate on the properties. 'twould be a "kumbaya" moment between Freepers and DUers, we could have some beer, tell jokes, and at least agree on SOMETHING...

Just days ago there was a judge asking for more security for Judges, Now we know why. So from this point forward if I am on a jury and someone is acussed of bring harm to anyone in black I shall look the other way and say not guilty.

This was a tyrannical court ruling and yet another nail in the coffin of what used to be America.

I can't really say that I'm surprised, except at the rate at which things are happening. Illegal immigration, trade and budget deficits, etc., and now this. The only logical conclusion I can offer is that powerful forces exist that seek to destroy our Republic. Unfortunately, they are doing a very good job.

As the real wealth of this country continues to be redistributed on a global scale under the guise of "free trade", expect more and more asset seizures as our corporate government needs "hard assets" instead of paper ones.

If there is a silver lining in this, it might be that the bastards overplayed their hand on this one. Folks across the board appear to be really ticked off over this. Maybe something will come of it. Or maybe they'll just go back to watching Fear Factor next week. Time will tell.

134
posted on 06/23/2005 9:24:55 PM PDT
by Mulder
(“The spirit of resistance is so valuable, that I wish it to be always kept alive" Thomas Jefferson)

As one FReeper put it: There will be property confiscations like wildfire in the coming months.

Yeah, it's a bad decision, and government will want to get their onfiscations "in before the lock", you might say.

If this decision eventually is somehow overturned, what does it do for people who suddenly have a housing development where the family farm used to be. They wouldn't have much legal recourse, as everything would have been "perfectly legal" when it was done.

I suggested that we unite with DU at the homes of the plaintiff when the bulldozers come to tear down their houses. Hundreds of us should show up to demonstrate on the properties. 'twould be a "kumbaya" moment between Freepers and DUers, we could have some beer, tell jokes, and at least agree on SOMETHING...

Good lord, I can't belive I am agreeing with most DU'ers on something. But this goes to our CORE. This is some major shit.

Did you see the thread on DU? Talking about a truce with FR over this... Federal Express is delivering iced tea to hell as we speak!

Lol! There was a link on the other thread earlier today. I think this is great that we've found common ground finally. Unfortunately it took the Supreme Communists to screw us out of another constitutional right to do it...

I'm sorely disappointed there is only 147 replies here!! Are we the only people that know? Where is the news on this? Where is the President when we need him? I love my President.......he better answer on this!

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